West Dayton Stories is our series highlighting the strength and resilience of Dayton’s African American community. It’s produced at the Center for Community Voices at WYSO. Producer Jaylon Yates shares his take on the community where he wants to have an impact.
Jaylon Yates: Growing up in West Dayton, you have a sense of pride about it, even though it's not the best place you want to be. The phrase was that 'Dayton started out as a place.' But in the heart of the statement, it became a phrase that represents the people. A strong community is having everyone on the same page. Everyone that lives in that particular community has a common goal in mind and wants the best for the people residing there. We may not agree on everything. Well, we all can agree to disagree.
Some areas of my community are falling short or overly populated urban areas, with liquor stores on almost every corner, mental health issues, high gun violence because of accessibility, and the community stopped caring for each other as much. Even though you see all those things underlining that is love and care, development and starting to come to the west side, but residents are skeptical.
After all, development coming to this region hasn't always served the people that live there. Although most communities have similar issues, in trying times everyone seems to come together in moments of need when you see the community come together for traumatic events like the Oregon shooting the tornado or the KKK rally, you see Dayton become strong.
My hope for the community is to leave a mark on the people the way I always wanted, creating change, and a safe place for the marginalized, becoming a community leader and a change agent.
West Dayton Stories is produced at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices and is supported by CityWide Development Corporation. For more information on the project, visit WYSO.org.
